


Sharpshooter

by PhoenixAndJinx



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Hurt Lance (Voltron), Hurt/Comfort, Insecure Lance (Voltron), Loss, Other, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-16
Updated: 2018-06-16
Packaged: 2019-05-23 23:08:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14943080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhoenixAndJinx/pseuds/PhoenixAndJinx
Summary: Lance knew he wasn’t the best member of the team.





	Sharpshooter

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for the long absence. We graduated high school and it kicked our asses. WE'RE BACK! Enjoy the many things coming your way!

Lance knew he wasn’t the best member of the team. Fighting had never really been his thing and now he was trapped in a war against a powerful alien race. The most fighting he had ever done was some playful wrestling with his siblings. He knows he lets the team down a lot. Kind of hard not to notice five pairs of eyes staring at you disappointedly. After another close battle, Shiro held Lance back when he dismissed the team. 

“What’s up Shiro?” 

“I’ve noticed that you’re struggling a lot lately Lance. Anything I can do to help?” Shiro asked. Lance knew what this was about. He couldn’t fight. He was useless to the team.

“It’s just something I have to work out myself. Thanks though Shiro.” He hoped that Shiro bought it. 

“Ok Lance. Just work through it quickly if you can.” Shiro patted his shoulder and walked away. Lance stood there wondering how he was going to do that. 

“The training deck.” He mumbled to himself. He rubbed his hands over his face and headed for the deck.

He reached the deck and pulled out his bayard.

“Start training sequence. Level one.” Lance got ready to face the Gladiator. He fought through levels one through five with relative ease. Level six was a different story. He was shooting at three approaching Gladiators when one ran up behind him and caught him across the back with a sword. Lance cried out in shock.

“End training sequence.” He called out. He winced as he walked towards the showers. He whimpered as he peeled off his paladin armor and suit. Luckily the armor fixed itself but the same could not be said about Lance. He turned his back to the mirror and craned his neck to get a look at the damage. It didn’t look very deep so he shrugged it off and hopped in the shower. He stood under the spray and watched the red tinged water go down the drain. Lance waited until the water ran clear and got out and dressed himself carefully. He was glad Pidge had figured out Altean pain medication.

He walked to his room and grabbed two pills. He laid face down on his bed and quietly cried himself to sleep.

* * *

 

Four hours later a nightmare woke Lance up. He tried to go back to sleep but the images of his team dying in front of him while he stood there useless wouldn’t leave him alone. He stared at the ceiling for a few minutes before deciding to get up and go back to the training deck. He swallowed two more pills and headed toward the deck.

“Start training sequence. Level five.” Lance quickly beat it and prepared for level six. He was expecting the same attack from before but this time only two Gladiators ran at him. He shot them both and waited for the next level to start but it didn’t. Three Gladiators fell from the ceiling and they had their own guns. Lance took out one. The other two shot at him and caught him in the side and thigh. 

“Shit! End training sequence!” Lance cursed. Both wounds were bleeding pretty badly. He limped to the medical room and grabbed some things similar to gauze pads and ace bandages. He took off his shirt and pants and threw them in the trash.

“Can’t do anything right. Dammit Lance. You can’t even pass level six, how are you going to defend the universe?” He berated himself as he cleaned and bandaged his newest wounds. He wondered how he was going to hide his injuries from the team.

“Lots and lots of pain pills.” He grumbled as he searched the cabinets for more. He found another bottle and limped back to his room. Might as well try and get some sleep before breakfast. He fell into a fitful sleep.

* * *

 

Luckily the next day Allura only had them use the mind melding helmets and do the maze. Lance had been able to pass his limp off as sleeping wrong. After training Allura sent them off to enjoy themselves. Lance went to his room to change and take pain pills before coming back to train. 

“Start training sequence. Level one.” Lance got off to a good start. Around level three his injuries started slowing him down. The level four Gladiators took him down in a matter of seconds with a kick to the side. Lance gasped and tried not to scream. His eyes began to burn with tears.

“End training sequence.” He choked out. He laid on the ground holding his side and crying for a few minutes. He looked down with blurry eyes and saw blood leaking through his shirt.

“Shit.” He pulled himself together and slowly stood up. He made his way to his room and pulled off his shirt. He walked into his bathroom and unwrapped all his bandages. He got in the shower and winced as he cleaned his wounds. He quickly dried off and rebandaged. 

“What the hell am I gonna do?” He asked himself as he walked to his bed.

* * *

 

Their next mission didn’t go much better but at least they freed the planet from Zarkon. The lions took quite a bit of damage and the paladins were tired after fighting all day. Lance was fighting back tears as they returned to the castle. The mission had almost failed and it would’ve been his fault. If only he was a little faster, a little more accurate. If Lance was better less people would have died.

They landed the lions and all the other paladins went to shower but Lance went to the training deck again. 

“Start training sequence. Level six.” Lance activated his bayard. Three Gladiators fell from the ceiling and attacked him with swords. As he was shooting the third one, a fourth Gladiator fell and sliced his arm open. Lance screamed.

“Lance! What’s wrong?” Hunk asked through the helmet comms. Lance groaned and removed his helmet.

“Lance what the fuck are you doing?” He heard Pidge yell from behind him. 

“End training sequence. Guys whoever is closest to the training deck, I need some help.” Pidge spoke into her helmet. Lance’s vision began to fade.

* * *

 

“What happened?” Everyone asked Pidge after they got Lance in a healing pod.

“I don’t know. I was walking down the hall and heard him scream. By the time I got there, he was laying on the floor with his arm sliced open and a Gladiator standing over him.”

“Well the pod says he’ll be out in two vargas and we can ask him then.” Coran cheerfully announced.

* * *

 

The healing pod hissed as it opened and Lance fell out into Coran’s arms. All of the paladins had gathered around and began firing questions at him.

“What were you doing?”

“What the hell were you thinking?”

“Why did you go train right after a mission?” 

“You know you’re gonna have a huge scar?”

“You had us all worried sick!”

Lance sighed and wondered how to answer correctly. Might as well go with some half truths.

“Sorry guys. I know it wasn’t the smartest thing to do but I just wanted to get some extra practice in. I won’t do it again.” Lance hoped they bought it. He’d have to be more careful about when he practiced. At least the pod had healed his other injuries too.

“Just be careful Lance.” Shiro said. Everyone else seemed to have bought his excuse too. 

“Go get some rest buddy.” Hunk said as all the paladins filed out of the room.

“You got it Hunk.” So Lance went to his room and breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn’t been found out yet. Looks like he had a few hours to kill until everyone went to sleep and could train. He decided to go talk to Pidge and see if she could get his music player to work.

“Of course I can. I figured it out weeks ago.” She said, taking it from his hand. She examined it for a few minutes before handing it back. She rummaged through a pile of cords before handing him one.

“This should charge it.”

“Thanks Pidge.” She nodded and went back to work on her computer. Lance went back to his room and listened to his music for a while. When the castle’s lights changed to night mode, Lance got out of bed and snuck to the training deck. 

“Let’s have some music playing while I get my ass handed to me by robots.” Lance muttered as he plugged in his mp3 player. The music began to play through the decks speakers.

“Start training sequence. Level one.” Lance took a deep breath and activated his bayard. The music slowly took control of his mind and body and soon Lance was dancing. It was a fast-paced, stunning, and deadly dance. He began dropping the Gladiators quickly. Before he knew it, the sixth level had come and gone. He trained with the music playing for 20 doboshes. 

“End training sequence.” Lance panted. He walked up to the observation area and was shocked. He had completed level ten? His pathetic, useless self? He unplugged his mp3 player and went back to his room. 

He continued to train like that for weeks. He steadily got better but he kept it a secret from the team. They would laugh at his need to train with music. He was afraid they wouldn’t let him train that way anymore because that’s not how you fight a war. They’d had a few small missions during those weeks and Lance had done fine. 

Today’s mission was different. Today they were freeing a planet from the Galra. They had used the lions and took out the ships that were circling the planet and then went to the surface to get information from the central command building. They weren’t expecting more Galra soldiers. Shiro, Keith, and Pidge went to get the information they came for and Lance and Hunk were tasked with getting rid of the remaining Galra.

The Galra used swords and attacked in groups. A group of eleven surrounded Hunk and the rest went after Lance. He managed to take out most of them before two soldiers grabbed his arms and forced him to his knees. A third Galra came to stand in front of him.

“Let’s see how Voltron does with one of their Paladins blinded.” The Galra sneered as he brought his sword up. Hunk yelled from somewhere nearby but he was too far away. The soldier swung the sword down across Lance’s right eye. Lance screamed. His body shook and he struggled to stay conscious. The soldier brought his sword up again but Hunk shot him before he could bring the sword down again. Hunk quickly took out the remaining soldiers.

“Guys did you get the information yet? Lance is really badly hurt!” Hunk yelled into the comms.

“There’s too many Galra! We’re pulling back! Get to your lions and back to the castle now!” Shiro yelled. Hunk threw an unconscious Lance over his shoulder and ran back to the yellow lion.

* * *

Six quintaints later, everyone was gathered around Lance’s healing pod. The pod had been unable to tell them if Lance’s eye would be healed and they were all hoping it would. The pod hissed open and Hunk caught Lance.

“Hey guys. Hold on. My eye won't open.” Lance said and his teammates suddenly looked sad.

“What’s wrong guys?”

“Lance. Your eye is open.” Shiro spoke softly.

“Come on guys. Don’t mess with me. Of course it’s-” Lance paused when his hand reached his eye. Shiro was telling the truth.

“Why can’t I see? I need to be able to see!” Lance was trying not to panic. 

“How much of the fight do you remember Lance?” Hunk asked.

“I remember fighting off tons of Galra soldiers and I looked over to see how you were doing and then oh my god. Two soldiers caught me and forced me to the ground. Oh my god. And then a third one swung a sword at my face! Oh my god! Why didn’t the healing pod fix it?! Why can’t I see?!” Lance began to panic.

“I’m sorry my boy. There are some things that even the pods cannot fix.” Coran said sadly.

“No! No! It can’t be true! I need my sight! Put me back in! Put me back in so the pod can fix me! Please!” Lance began to cry.

“I’m so sorry Lance.” Allura said. Coran went to one of the cupboards and pulled out a syringe.

“I’m sorry Lance.” He injected the contents into Lance’s arm and he fell asleep.

“I’ll take him to bed and then I’ll meet you guys in the kitchen.” Hunk said.

* * *

 

When Lance woke up he was back in his own bed. He had hoped that it was all just a nightmare but his hopes were quickly dashed. The castle was in night mode so Lance got up and made his way to the training deck. Better figure out if he could ever be the slightest bit useful ever again. 

“Start training sequence. Level one.” Lance activated his bayard as the Gladiator ran at him. Lance brought his rifle up and took out the Gladiator. Level two was a close call. 

“End training sequence.” Lance called. He walked up and plugged his phone into the decks speakers. 

“Start training sequence. Level three.” Lance lost himself in the music. He went through training for vargas.

The rest of the castle was waking up and heading to breakfast but on the way they stopped. Where was that music coming from? And where was Lance? They all grouped together and followed the sound. Surprisingly it led them to the training decks observation area.

They stopped in shock. Down below, Lance was dancing. It was a beautiful, deadly dance. Lance was taking out the Gladiators so fast that the castle was having a difficult time clearing the broken bodies. They watched for a while, completely awed. Allura was the first one to snap out of the trance Lance had put them in. 

She ended the training sequence and everyone snapped out of it. They were all shocked when the monitor told them that it had ended on Level 23. They all walked down to the deck to talk to Lance.

“Still our sharpshooter huh?” Shiro asked as they approached. Lance smiled and tears began to flow down his face.

“I can still be useful. Please don’t make me quit Voltron.” He cried.

“Lance. Do you know what level you were on?” Pidge asked. He sniffled.

“No.”

“Level 23. That’s the highest any of you has ever gotten. Individually or as a team.” Allura said.

“I’m impressed.” Keith mumbled. Lance sniffled again.

“That can’t be right. The highest I’ve gotten is only Level ten and that was with both eyes.” 

“That’s still higher than anything else. I’m proud of you.” Coran said.

“Oh my god. I wasn’t even paying attention. I just got lost in the music.” Lance laughed.

“Maybe that helps you?” Hunk suggested.

“It doesn’t matter. I’ve only got one eye now. I’m even more useless than I was before.” Lance said sadly.

“You’ve never been useless Lance. The team and universe need you. You’re our sharpshooter.” Shiro said softly. Everyone made noises of agreement.

“So don’t give up on us buddy. We’ll help you through this. Ok?” Hunk assured. Lance wiped his eyes.

“Ok.”

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for the long absence. We graduated high school and it kicked our asses. WE'RE BACK! Enjoy the many things coming your way!


End file.
